Wooloomooloo Steakhouse, Swissotel the Stamford

Starting from Feb, Wooloomooloo is serving a 5-course weekend brunch (11.30am-2.30pm) at an affordable $68. Kids eat at $18+.That’s a steal compared to the $80-steak Wooloomooloo serves for dinner. (My contributors went for dinner once, spending about $150 each.)

Choose a dish from each section. (Click to enlarge)

The moment we walked in, we went fwahhh so classy. Dark wood, leather armchairs, a beautiful view of the city and Padang, and jazz music. “This is how every weekend should be, so relaxed and calm,” said my companion. “If only there is an ottoman to put my legs up.”

“Wow, you’re very towkay hor,” said I.

Like the ambience, the food was wonderful, not too much to feel like a pregnant sow, and lots of choices. Started with a mild egg benedict (above) with abundant smoked salmon and an admirable Cobb sandwich (chicken breast, egg, blue cheese sauce.) Then a choice of soup or salad. We tried the french onion soup (below), chockful of sweet onion, but we preferred the lobster bisque, extremely aromatic, and very classic, a good balance between cognac and soup. In a sip, I felt this was so very traditional, transported to old French bistros on sidewalks: this is how lobster bisque should taste.

Between the specialty jumbo lump crab cake and wild mushroom risotto, go for the latter. The crab cake was a tad dry; but the risotto was marvelous, one of the better we had. It was cooked perfectly, not too soft, not too hard. And bits of stilton blue cheese perked up the dish. Even my friend who didn’t like blue cheese approved of it.

The choices of mains are Wooloomooloo classics. The Australian Black Angus & USDA Prime was competent, but the surprise came From the Sea, seafood tossed in homemade tomato sauce. I don’t normally like tomato sauce, but this had a nice balance of acidity and sweetness, went really well with the buttered baguette.

For desserts, get their speciality, cheesecake or bread & butter pudding. A great experience, we’ll surely return.